Loving Beth
by Vol lady
Summary: This is Jarrod's and Beth's love story. We know how it ends, so keep the tissue handy, but I always thought we needed to know Beth better, so I gave it a try.
1. Chapter 1

Loving Beth

Chapter 1

Funny thing about getting shot in the back at close range, about spending so much time in bed lying as still as you can, then gradually rebuilding your strength until you can walk around like a somewhat normal human being. It takes so many weeks just to feel like yourself again, and your back still hurts if you move the wrong way and the doctor says that you may have to live with that. The funny thing is that by then you don't mind having to live with it if you have to, because you are living. You survived. You got well enough to be yourself again. All right, yourself with a bit of a backache, but yourself.

The world seems so full of light and joy when you can be yourself again. The future actually seems like a future, full of possibilities that you never saw before. Or maybe it was just that you got so busy you never noticed them, until you woke up flat on your back and stayed that way long enough to watch the world reveal itself all over again. You rejoiced when you were able to stand up, and walk across the room, and walk down the stairs. Riding a horse became the same wild happiness it was when you were a boy and riding free for the first time. The sun and the air and the wind were all new again.

And over many weeks, you became you again, but different. Ready for joy again, ready for the beautiful possibilities that lay before you. Ready to be twenty years old again.

So, when Jarrod Barkley announced at the dinner table, "I need to go to Washington next week," and everyone looked at him like he wasn't ready for that, he grinned. "Don't worry, I'm as good as new, and something I could really use is some time away on my own."

"Why are you going?" his mother asked. "Is there some business you need to attend to?"

Jarrod had only begun to get back to work at his office in town. He hadn't even gone to his office in San Francisco yet. "I got a wire from the governor today," he said. "Congressman Mitchell has asked for me to come. He needs someone to help him with a new bill he's trying to get passed on open access to federal property in the west. He asked for me because I know several of the congressmen he needs to get on board and because I'm a rancher."

"Are you up to it?" Heath asked. "Train travel ain't so comfortable on a good back, much less one still getting over a big fat gunshot."

Jarrod nodded. "I'm up to it."

"It hasn't really been all that long since the Dunigans blew that hole in your back, Jarrod," Nick said.

Jarrod gave him a smile. "I'm all right now, Nick. Don't worry."

"Does Dr. Merar know you intend to go?" Victoria asked.

"He does," Jarrod said. "I stopped in to see him today, he looked me over, and he says I'm fine to travel. I intend to put that entire unhappy episode with the Dunigans behind me and enjoy the journey ahead."

Audra, at least, smiled, even if Nick still looked concerned and Victoria a little worried. "I think going away for a while is a wonderful idea," she said. "I know I'm looking forward to my trip to Philadelphia." She was due to leave in two days.

"You don't have a hole in your back," Nick said.

"Neither do I, Nick," Jarrod said. "Not anymore."

So his family saw him off to Washington, and when he got there he wired them that he was there and he was fine and he hoped to wrap up his visits to the politicians in less than a week. As it was, it took four days to meet with everyone and get Congressman Mitchell's bill to committee. By then Jarrod's work was done.

He took a day to roam around the nation's capital and remember the time he was here, during the war. He didn't think very much about the woman he became involved with then. He hadn't seen Julia Saxon since, and he didn't want to. He didn't even want to think about her. He wanted to think about the future, the sun, everything that was bright and promising. He put the past behind him.

He was not scheduled to return home for another two days, but he decided at the last minute that he would skip the extra day in Washington. He had his leased private car set up to be attached to the train heading west a day earlier than he had planned. He was looking forward to getting home to California, even though his work in Washington had not been as grueling as he thought it might be. He had been right that the time away would be good for him. His happy attitude stayed with him and even grew. It was still with him as he went from the station to the train after they told him his car was ready and they would be pulling out in about twenty minutes.

Jarrod made his way from the lounge in the station toward the track and platform where he would board his car – and he immediately bumped into her. She didn't fall, but she did blurt out, alarmed, and Jarrod grabbed her arm to keep her from going down. "I'm sorry! Are you all right?" he asked.

She looked up at him. Blue eyes, auburn hair, and she broke into a smile that resonated with his sunny frame of mind. It was instant, perfect harmony. Jarrod actually started to tremble a little.

"Oh, no, it's me who got in the way," she said. "I'm supposed to be boarding my train and I lost my way and got rushed. I'm sorry."

"No, don't be," Jarrod said, tipping his hat. "Maybe I can help. Which train are you looking for?"

"The one o'clock to Chicago," she said.

"Well, how fortuitous," Jarrod said. "That's my train, too." He offered his arm and reached for the suitcase she was carrying. "Let me escort you."

She laughed a light laugh. "Thank you very much."

"I'm Jarrod Barkley," he said. "I'm heading for California."

They walked together, her arm in his. "My goodness, you have a long trip. I'm only going as far as Denver. My name is Elizabeth Randall."

"We'll have to change trains in Chicago, you know – the hub of the railroad world."

"So I understand. Will you and I have the same train out of Chicago, Mr. Barkley?"

"We will," Jarrod said. "We'll have a while to get to know each other, so please call me Jarrod. May I call you Elizabeth?"

"I prefer Beth," she said.

"Is this your first time going west, Beth?" Jarrod asked.

"Yes, it is," she said. "I've always lived here in the east, in Pennsylvania, but now I'm off to teach school in Denver."

"An exciting change for you. My home is in California, in Stockton. I've had business in Washington and now I'm quite happy to be leaving it behind."

"Too much hubbub?" she asked.

"Too flat," he said. "I live in a valley surrounded by mountains, much like Denver, actually."

"I'm told the mountains in the west are so high they can pluck stars out of the sky," Beth said.

Jarrod smiled. He liked the way she put that. "I don't know about plucking stars, but they certainly make you think you could do it if you stood atop them." They had arrived at their train, and Jarrod escorted Beth right by his private car to the passenger cars. "Do you have a Pullman?" he asked.

"I do," she asked and fishing her ticket out of her reticule, she found the car she should be boarding, and Jarrod escorted her there. Once there, they stopped, and she took her bag from him. "Do you?" she asked. "Have a Pullman, I mean."

Jarrod smiled a little awkwardly and pointed back to his car. "Actually, I'm bringing up the rear of this train. I'm lucky enough to have a private car."

"Oh!" she said, surprised. "Well, thank you for escorting me to the right place. I wouldn't want to have to walk to Denver."

Jarrod laughed a little and tipped his hat again. "Maybe we'll run into each other again on our way west."

She nodded, smiling a very interesting, and interested, smile. "That would be lovely."

As she started to turn, Jarrod said, "Um – "

She turned back.

"There is a lounge car on the train, about two cars forward. Perhaps you would join me for a drink, say about five o'clock?" Jarrod said.

Beth smiled. "I would like that. I'll meet you there."

Jarrod broke into a smile and tipped his hat again. "I'll look forward to it."

Jarrod watched her climb safely onto the train, then turned back to board his own car at the rear of the train. He didn't realize that he was wearing his smile all the way back, but he did notice that he didn't really have to climb into his car. The air around him lifted him up there.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Beth was just about to go into the lounge car, her fingers tingling, her heart beating faster than she expected, when she heard him say from behind her, "Hello, again."

She turned, and there he was, that very handsome man with the marvelous blue eyes and the private car who had helped her find her way to the train. Jarrod Barkley, she remembered. She was pretty sure that even after she got off this train in Denver and watched it take him away to California, that she would never forget this man. "Hello," she said. "Perfect timing."

"It would appear," Jarrod said. "Come, let's sit down and have a drink." He found an empty two-seat table and held a chair out for her. "I'll go to the bar for us," he said. "What would you like?"

"Some white wine would be lovely," she said.

Jarrod went to the bar, only a few paces away, and soon he returned with two glasses of white wine. He set one down in front of Beth and then took the seat opposite her, whereupon he raised his glass in a toast. When she raised hers, he said, "Here's to serendipity."

She laughed. "I'm impressed. Many people don't even know what that word means."

"I used to think I did," Jarrod said, "but I'm not sure I fully understood it until today."

They each sipped and set their glasses back down, keeping hold of them so the jarring of the train did not tumble them over. "I have to admit," Beth said, "I'm a little flabbergasted by this trip so far."

"Really?" Jarrod asked. He looked at the window at the landscape just beginning to turn color as the sun thought about going down. "The scenery really hasn't changed that much, and we are just about back into Pennsylvania. You ought to be used to that."

"That's not what I meant," she said. "What I'm surprised about is meeting you." Then she shook her head. "I'm sorry. I'm rushing things and I don't normally do that."

"What's wrong with rushing a little?" Jarrod said. "We're on a train. We'll only be seeing each other for three or four days. If we want to enjoy each other's company, we're going to have to do it in a hurry." And then he laughed at his own words.

"Well, in a way I'm amazed I'm making this trip at all. It was a big decision for me to leave Pennsylvania for a job in Denver."

"Why did you decide to do that?"

"I suppose because I wanted another chance at living. My parents both died over the last year. I have no family. For a while there it was like I had died, too, and then I realized that maybe I had, but I could be born again. I looked at my life, I decided I wanted something to look forward to, a future that was really a future. Do you know?"

Jarrod did know. He smiled a little. "It's funny, but part of the reason I went to Washington was part of what you just described. I spent the last couple of months having my own rebirth in a way. I was shot in a robbery and for a little while there, my family wasn't sure I would survive. When I did, when I started taking stock of what had happened, I realized I had a chance to be born again, too. I looked at my life and realized I did have something to look forward to. The future was a future. I felt like a kid again."

"And so you reached for it."

Jarrod nodded. "Just as you've reached for it."

The truths they had just told each other actually made them each lean a little closer toward one another. "Why were you in Washington, Jarrod?" Beth asked.

"To see a Congressman and help him get a bill about open range on federal land to committee." Then he laughed. "I'm sorry if that sounded like political gobbledee-gook."

"No, not at all," Beth said. "Civics is one of the lessons I teach my students – how government works, or doesn't work sometimes. Were you successful?"

"Yes, but my job was only to get it to committee. Whether it will ever get out of committee and passed, I don't know. It can be a very long process. Sometimes it doesn't work one year but it works the next."

"So, are you a politician by profession?"

Jarrod shook his head. "I'm a lawyer, and a bit of a rancher, too, which is why my congressman wanted my help. My family owns a large ranch and some related enterprises in California. I do the legal work and have my own practice in Stockton and San Francisco, too."

Beth was impressed – and a bit intimidated. "I see now why you have the private car."

Jarrod laughed. "It's more for convenience than anything. I travel with a lot of paperwork that I end up spreading out all over the place. I never liked looking ostentatious. It makes me a bit uncomfortable."

"Even though you've always lived a privileged life?"

"Oh, well, I haven't. When I was growing up, my parents were growing up, too. The money and the property came as I was reaching my teen years. I'm the oldest of their children, you see. I'm the one who saw the tough times as well as the privileged times."

"I knew there was a reason you seem so down to earth," Beth said.

They sipped their wine, and they talked, and when seven o'clock arrived they decided they did not want to part company just yet. They went to the dining car together, had dinner together, talked together, and before they knew it ten o'clock had rolled around. Jarrod escorted Beth back to her car, but he stopped with her between cars, to take a look out into the darkness, to see the stars together. It was a moonless night, and the sky held a million lights.

"There's my star," Beth said and pointed toward the North Star.

Jarrod recognized it. "That's the star for a lot of people."

"Hm," Beth agreed. "It's the star the slaves followed when they made their way from the south up to Pennsylvania. I grew up on a small farm just outside Harrisburg. My parents had us on the Underground Railroad."

"Really?" Jarrod said.

Beth nodded. "Every time we helped someone through to Canada, my father would point out the North Star and tell them to just keep following it. It was their star. I started thinking of it as my star, too."

Jarrod said, "I can remember times during the war, looking up at that star and reminding myself what it was all about – getting more people to freedom as well as preserving the Union."

"You served?"

Jarrod nodded. "All four years. It was tough. My parents weren't too keen on the idea of me going. But I had to. I'm glad I did. We did something important. I was part of something that history will remember long after I'm gone."

Beth turned to him and looked at him. They could barely see each other in the faint light coming from the railroad cars, but it made everything seem so private, so intimate. Every minute of that evening together had been leading to this wonderful moment. Jarrod suddenly felt like he could tell this woman everything that was so deep inside him he never told anyone. He lifted her chin, and he kissed her.

Then he was a little embarrassed. "That was very forward of me. Forgive me."

"No," Beth said.

Jarrod was a bit taken aback.

"How can I forgive something that wasn't a fault?" she asked. "It was a lovely kiss."

"We'll have a layover in Chicago after we get there, early the day after tomorrow," Jarrod said. "Will you spend the time with me?"

"I'd like that," Beth said. "And I hope we'll spend some time together tomorrow, too."

Jarrod gave into the desire and kissed her again. Then he said, "It's best I walk you back to your seat so you can get ready for bed. Maybe you'll meet me for breakfast?"

"I'd like that," Beth said.

"In the dining car, about seven?"

She nodded.

Jarrod took her hand and walked her back to her seat. "Till morning, then," Jarrod said and kissed her hand.

Beth nodded. "Sleep well."

"Oh, I will," Jarrod said with a twinkle in his eyes.

"So will I," Beth said.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Jarrod and Beth enjoyed breakfast together as the train rolled along the countryside in Ohio and into eastern Indiana, but they spent most of the time looking at each other, not so much the scenery. They didn't part company at all. They spent the time watching the scenery, talking about Beth's plans for Denver, talking about California and even a little about the war. Dinnertime came and they dined together again, and as far as sleeping was concerned – Beth in her Pullman and Jarrod in his private car were both smiling as they fell asleep.

The next morning the train was rumbling through Illinois as they had breakfast together. When the train pulled into Chicago, they fetched Beth's bag and took it to Jarrod's car, so she wouldn't have to worry about it making the move to the train heading to Denver. That was when she got her first look at a private car.

It was beautiful, like the most elegant parlor she had ever seen. There was a partition that Jarrod said cordoned off the sleeping area. Jarrod put Beth's bag down next to the settee in the living area, just as the train lunged to a halt. They both rocked a bit, and Beth lost her balance for a moment. Jarrod caught her in his arms.

"I never was the most nimble person on my feet," she said as the train stopped and he set her right again.

"Why don't we detrain?" Jarrod asked. "They'll be separating this car and attaching it to the train going west, and that's not an exercise I enjoy either. We can take a walk outside and have an early lunch at the Palmer House."

Jarrod took her by the hand – they had held hands everywhere they went this morning. "The Palmer House," Beth said. "Don't I remember reading it burned in the fire?"

"It did," Jarrod said as they left the car and climbed down onto the platform. "But it's recovered and reopened, and I enjoy it and most of all, trust it. You do have to be careful eating out in Chicago. Some places are just opening up and things can be a little – " He struggled for a word and came up with "uncertain."

As they walked together into the station, Beth said, "I guess you've been here enough to know your way around."

"Pretty much," Jarrod said, "though since it's still really rebuilding, it's different every time I come here. Let's walk across the river and down toward the lake. We can take in the new buildings and then stop for lunch."

Jarrod gave Beth as grand a tour as he could come up with. They walked together and he pointed out the buildings he hadn't seen the last time he was here because they hadn't been built yet. He explained about how devastating the fire was, wiping out all the restaurants except for five. The Palmer House had just opened before it burned down, but it was rebuilt and had reopened and was reputed to be the best in town.

The sky was clear and beautiful, and the notorious Chicago wind was on the calm side, so they could stroll comfortably together. When it came time for lunch, they ate slowly, comfortably, talking more about their lives, their families. That was when Beth brought up Andrew. "My fiance," she said.

Jarrod was startled for a moment.

But then Beth said, "He was killed in the war, at Gettysburg. I was very young. When he went off I didn't understand how serious the situation was. A war was just an abstract concept to me, some foolish, glorious enterprise I didn't really understand. Something he would come home from. But he didn't come home. I was only 16 when he died – he was 19. I didn't even really get the chance to say good-bye."

Jarrod took her hand, concerned that it brought such darkness to her eyes. He really didn't know what to say, so he said nothing.

Beth looked up at him. "Were you at Gettysburg?" she asked.

Jarrod shook his head. "I was wounded at Antietam and reassigned to Washington, to army intelligence." His own eyes grew dark. He did not want to remember Julia Saxon, not now.

"You were away from the fighting then," Beth said.

Jarrod nodded. "For a while. I went back into action after Gettysburg. I commanded a cavalry unit of negro soldiers in Virginia, was wounded again and then I was wounded twice more near the end of the war." He smiled a little. "I guess they realized I was attracting too much fire and were about to send me back to Washington, but the war ended anyway while I was recovering the second time."

"You were away from home for a long time," Beth said.

"Four years," Jarrod said, "and then I went to law school and was away for three more. I was a boy when I left to go off to war. All grown up when I came back from law school." He gave thought for a while and then said, "I'm so sorry you lost your fiance in the war. You should have had a happy marriage and babies and everything a woman like you should have."

Beth blushed a little. Things were getting so personal between them, but it didn't seem awkward, not really. It seemed natural. It seemed like he made her want to talk about things she could never talk about before. "I was devastated once it sank in. I just could never bring myself to look at a man the same way – afraid he'd go away and die like Andrew did, I suppose. So, after a time, I decided to teach school. I needed to support myself, after all. I do love children. And I wasn't finding a husband to support me."

"You stopped looking because of what happened to Andrew," Jarrod said.

Beth nodded. And she looked at Jarrod again.

He said, "The same sort of thing happened to me. I fell in love in Washington but the war crushed it out, even though the girl I fell in love with wasn't killed. It was a different situation. I found out what she wanted from me was information, not love."

Beth said, "I'm sorry. And there hasn't been anyone else since?"

Jarrod shook his head. "Not really. Not someone I could be myself with, and maybe I let myself get too wrapped up in my work. Intentionally. To avoid it."

"To avoid the risk," Beth said.

Jarrod nodded. "And then I took that bullet in the back a few months ago. It changed my whole outlook. I think I was meant to come on this trip not to help make a new law, but to make a new me. To find a new future. Maybe to find you, Beth."

"Funny," she said. "I'm beginning to think the same thing is happening to me."

XXXXXXX

When the train pulled out of Chicago and began to wind its way through the Great Plains, neither Jarrod nor Beth wanted to part company at all, at any time. They went to Jarrod's private car and watched the sun set through the windows, sitting together and holding hands, talking about sunsets they had seen before, the colors and the clouds. They took wine together there before dinner and went to the dining car together at seven, enjoying their food and each other until it came time for bed. Jarrod walked Beth to her car then, and again he kissed her hand good night before he returned to his own car.

He had trouble falling asleep this time, though. He felt an ache, very deep inside, that kept him awake. He knew right away it was the ache of not having Beth beside him. All right, so they had just met, but it felt so right being with her, and it wasn't just the overall joy of being alive after his battle with that terrible bullet wound. It was real. It was the joy of being with _her_, with Beth. Beth Randall. Elizabeth Randall. For the first time, he thought, Elizabeth Randall Barkley.

Then he quickly thought it was far too early to be thinking that way. She was going to be leaving the train late the next night in Denver, and then – what? Could they carry on the intimacy and delight they were creating with one another even if they were a thousand miles apart? Or was it all going to melt away as soon as she got off the train and he continued on alone?

In the middle of the night, Jarrod got up, donned his robe and slippers and stepped out of the back of the train. As it chugged along, he looked up at the sky, craning his neck at times to find and see the North Star. Beth's star. He knew now he would always think of it that way. Whenever he looked at it, he would see her, the woman he had grown so attached to in fewer than three days, the woman he felt so right with. The first woman he had felt that right with since Julia – and even more right than he had felt with Julia.

Jarrod hurt at the thought that tomorrow night might be the end of their time together. He started to think that he ought to back away a bit, to protect his heart, because there wasn't much chance they could keep what they had just created if they were so far apart. But then, hadn't he been protecting his heart for far too long? When he recovered from that bullet in the back that nearly took his life, didn't he realize that along with his life beginning again, his ability to love had to begin again, too?

Jarrod looked up at the stars, at that North Star that said her name over and over to him. He wondered what tomorrow would bring, and what he wanted it to bring.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"I didn't sleep very well last night," Jarrod admitted at breakfast.

Beth looked a little trapped. "Neither did I. I kept thinking about yesterday, about how lovely it was to feel – well, to feel that way again."

Jarrod smiled. "What way?"

Beth smiled. "Close to someone else. I haven't felt that way in a very long time, and the past few days, with you, it just happened."

Jarrod took her hand. "That's the way I felt about it, too. I wished yesterday didn't have to end. I suppose that's why I couldn't sleep. So, I got up and went out to the back of the train, and I looked up at your star."

Beth's smile grew. "You did?"

"I can't imagine I'll ever think of it as the North Star again," Jarrod said. "I think it will always be Beth's Star for me now."

Beth looked a little embarrassed.

"What is it?" Jarrod asked. "Did I say something inappropriate?"

Beth shook her head. "Not at all. It's just that when I couldn't sleep, I got up, too, and I went out to the platform between cars. And I looked up at the stars and tried to find yours, but there were so many, and I never did ask you which one was yours."

"Oh, mine's easy to find," Jarrod said. "Since I was a boy, I always imagined my star was right there on the front lip of the Big Dipper, pouring all the other stars out into the sky."

Beth smiled at the picture he had just drawn and said, "Dubhe."

Jarrod was surprised she knew the star's name, but then he realized maybe he shouldn't have been. "You know it."

"Yes," she said, laughing a musical laugh. "When you draw a line between Dubhe and Merak, the star at the bottom front of the Big Dipper – "

"And you extend the line out, it takes you to Beth's Star," Jarrod finished her thought.

Beth nodded. "Your star leads to mine."

Jarrod squeezed her hand. "I'm not remotely surprised."

"I'm going to make a guess," Beth said, suddenly changing the subject. "You like poetry. You like music. You – play the piano?"

"Badly," Jarrod said.

"Oh, I doubt that. You have the hands of a pianist, long fingers."

Jarrod laughed. "That just means I can reach the keys. It doesn't make me any more talented."

"But I'm right about poetry and music."

Jarrod nodded. "You're right about poetry and music. And I wouldn't be surprised if you love them, too."

"I can get lost in anything by Shakespeare, poetry or plays. And any of Mozart's music, especially his piano concerti."

Jarrod shook his head. "It seems the more I discover about you, the more I reveal myself."

"I hope you will try to play the piano for me someday."

"All right. I'll put that at the top of my list. And at the top of your list, will you put reading some Shakespeare to me?"

Beth nodded. "If I read you Romeo and Juliet, do you promise not to laugh when I imitate their voices?"

Jarrod smiled.

Beth went on. "I have a tendency – " and she let her voice drop as low as it would go – "to try to sound like Romeo, or at least how I think Romeo might sound." Then she went back to her normal voice. "But I can never quite do it."

"I won't laugh – much," Jarrod said. "As long as you promise not to laugh when I play the piano."

"I won't laugh – much," Beth said.

After breakfast, they went back to Jarrod's car again, to watch the plains go by outside the window. Beth had never seen them before, and for a long time she just took things in as they sat together, holding hands. But then she suddenly shook her head. "It's like being lost at sea – or at least how I've imagined it would be. Everywhere you look, there is just nothing. In this case grass, not water. But you can see forever and forever, and while you might strain to see a house as much as you might strain to see a ship at sea, there's none there."

"Actually," Jarrod said, "there are houses out there, but they're made of the same material all around them, so they vanish into the landscape. And granted, there aren't many of them."

Suddenly, Beth turned and looked at him, and he instantly lost his train of thought.

"I'm getting as lost in your eyes as you're getting in the grass out there," Jarrod said, and he stole a kiss. Then he felt embarrassed. "I'm sorry. That isn't a safe thing to do, when we're alone here like this, and I don't want – "

Beth put her mouth on his, cutting off his sentence. Jarrod put his arms around her, and for a long time they shared each other, just arms and kisses. Not that Jarrod would have minded it progressing to something more, but Beth was not the kind of girl to take advantage of. He finally sat up straight.

And cleared his throat. "I think perhaps we might take a walk up to the lounge car," he said with a hint of an embarrassed laugh in his voice.

Beth laughed. "That's probably a good idea."

They got up, straightened their clothing out, and walked together to the lounge. It was just before lunch, so it was not very crowded and they hadn't begun serving alcohol yet. _That's probably good,_ Jarrod thought_. I might lose all my inhibitions if I'm not careful._

They shared coffee and lunch in the dining car and then returned to the lounge car again for a while. They talked for hours, about silly things like ladies hats with too many feathers and how difficult it was to get a man to close a cabinet door. They were completely unaware the time was slipping away until more people began to come in and the light outside began to fade. Jarrod checked his watch. "My goodness, it's almost seven," he said.

Beth looked around. "I was afraid when I decided to take this trip that I would be bored silly, so I brought several books to keep me company. I haven't opened a one."

Jarrod chuckled. "What did you bring?"

"Oh, a Dickens, and Les Miserables."

"In English or French?"

"Both," Beth said with a laugh. "My French isn't very good, but I try. I thought if I failed, I should have it in English, too."

"Just what I would have done," Jarrod said. "And Dickens - did you know, A Christmas Carol was published only two days after I was born."

"Really?" Beth laughed. "How marvelous, to be attached to that wonderful story."

Jarrod stood up and helped Beth to stand, saying, "Why don't we go to dinner?"

They were both a bit nervous as they sat down to dinner, afraid that when they finished and it was time to get up, they would be arriving in Denver and Beth would be getting off. Forever. They tried not to let it overshadow their time together now. They kept talking and talking. They discussed Angelo's monologue in "Measure for Measure." They discussed Mozart's Requiem and which parts of it had to be completed by a student because he had died before he finished it. Jarrod told Beth about San Francisco and his home there and how he wished that someday he could show her that city.

But then, Beth suddenly noticed that everyone was gone, that she and Jarrod were alone in the dining car, and that meant that soon they would be arriving in Denver. A sadness came into Beth's eyes, and she talked about how the past few days had been a fantasy, they weren't real. Jarrod took her hand. "You're wrong, Beth. It's real."

And moments later, Charles, the waiter, told them that they were arriving in Denver. Jarrod stood up and helped Beth to her feet, but neither one of them was smiling now. It was over. Whether it was a fantasy or whether it was real, it was over.

"Beth, I'm going to see you again," Jarrod said.

"Oh, I hope so," she said.

Jarrod kissed her – and the train jolted to a stop. They were in Denver. Beth had to leave.

When he started to escort her off, she said, "Jarrod, you stay here." And she fled the car.

Jarrod saw her beginning to cry as she hurried out the door. His mind going away with her, he paid Charles for the meal and a tip – and then he made a decision, a decision that put the life back into his heart. He headed for the door. "Charles, take my bags out of the next car and put them off the train."

"But I thought you were going on to Stockton, Mr. Barkley," Charles said.

Jarrod beamed at him as he went out the door. "I've changed my mind!"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

He was off the train before she was, since she had to go back to her car for her bag and he had someone to unload his for him. He went back to the car he had escorted her to in Chicago, and feeling something like a kid going to his first dance, he paced a little as he waited. But he didn't have to wait long. In a few moments, she climbed down from the train, holding her one bag, looking lost and forlorn. He thought to himself that he could never bear to think she might look like that ever again. He quietly stepped up beside her and said, "May I help you with your bag, Miss?"

Beth turned, mouth open. "Jarrod! What - ?!"

Jarrod took her bag. "I'm not ready for us to end yet," he said and kissed her lightly. "Do you mind if I stay in Denver for a while?"

She burst into that beautiful smile. "Oh, no! Not at all!"

Jarrod took her arm and they began to walk toward the station. "I stay at the Denver Palace when I'm here. Do you have a place lined up?"

"A boarding house," Beth said. "They're not expecting me until tomorrow, though, and I really didn't think about getting anyplace tonight. I thought I'd talk to Traveler's Aid."

"Well, let me be your traveler's aid," Jarrod said. "Let's go over to the Palace and see if they can accommodate us both, then we'll have a little nightcap and talk about tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Beth asked.

"Do you start teaching right away?"

"Not until next week," Beth said. "I wanted some time to settle in."

"Then we'll talk tomorrow about where you're going to settle in."

"Where? I told you, I have a boarding house lined up."

Jarrod made a disapproving face. "A boarding house. Not good enough for you. Let's go to the Palace and talk all about that."

Jarrod lined up a hack and had their bags delivered to it, and soon he and Beth were pulling up to the Palace Hotel. Beth was floored. The place was far more elegant than she could imagine. "Oh, Jarrod, I can't afford – "

"You don't need to worry," Jarrod said as he helped her out of the hack. "I'll take care of everything tonight and we'll talk about it tomorrow."

As they went inside, Beth found herself looking around like a child in a candy store. The lobby was all marble and mahogany, a bit quiet this late at night but that only showed off its grandeur more. Jarrod escorted her to the desk, where the clerk immediately broke into a smile. "Mr. Barkley! How wonderful to see you again, but we weren't expecting you!"

"I know," Jarrod said. "This was a last minute stop. I hope you can accommodate Miss Randall and me with a couple of rooms. I don't need my regular if it's not available."

"But it is available," the clerk said. "I'll put you right in there, and I do have a very nice room available for Miss Randall."

"Excellent," Jarrod said.

They checked in. Jarrod directed the bellman about which bags went where, and then he and Beth went to the lounge to get a nightcap. There were quite a few people in there, but the crowd began to thin as Jarrod and Beth sat and talked.

They had sipped champagne together on the train and now they added more. Beth began to feel her head go light, but was it the champagne or the fact that everything that had happened over the last few days was settling in? Jarrod noticed. "I suppose we'd better make this our last glass of champagne tonight, or we'll both need help getting to our rooms."

Beth shook her head. "I just can't believe we're here. I can't believe you're here. I thought that tonight we'd have to say good-bye, and here we are, saying hello again."

Jarrod smiled. "I just couldn't give you up yet, Beth. I've never felt such an instant intimacy with a woman in my life."

"I feel the same way," Beth said. "It's as if my star always was really connected to yours. But are we just putting off the inevitable? Soon you'll have to go on to California. Your life is there. My new life is here."

Jarrod took her hand. "I'm hoping we can talk about that some more in the morning, when our heads are clearer. Tonight, let's just finish our champagne and share a good night kiss. And then in the morning we'll breakfast and talk some more and spend the entire day together."

Beth smiled. "You're going to make me want to beg you to stay here in Denver and never go on to California at all."

Jarrod chuckled. "I plan to do a little begging of my own."

Jarrod took Beth to her room at about half past midnight. They shared a long, lovely kiss in the hall outside her door before Jarrod unlocked and opened it for her. He gave her another kiss before she went in. "Sleep very well, Jarrod," Beth said.

"I know I will," Jarrod said.

When he entered his own room, Jarrod locked the door and left the key on the dresser nearby. Before long he was undressed and under the blankets – and thinking, and planning, and hoping. He stared at the dark ceiling, illuminated just a little bit by the ambient light from the street, and he tried to compose a small speech that he intended to give to Beth in the morning. He only wondered for half a second if it was the right thing to do, but his heart immediately said to him that yes, it was right. Everything was right. That new life he thought was opening up to him while he recovered from that bullet wound really was opening up to him, right now. He fell asleep smiling.

In the morning, at about ten thirty, he met Beth at her room with a light kiss. "Did you sleep well?"

"I had very sweet dreams," she said.

"Good," he said. "Let's get some breakfast and go for a walk."

They ate with the late breakfast crowd, taking so much time that lunch seemed to be an afterthought. They finished at about noon, and Jarrod took Beth by the arm and said, "Let's go."

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"Well, it's a surprise," Jarrod said.

Beth laughed. "We still need to check out."

"No, we don't need to," Jarrod said. "I think we'll be staying at the Palace again tonight."

"But I have a place at the boarding house."

"We'll go by there."

Beth was beginning to get tantalized. "What do you have up your sleeve, Counselor?"

That was the first time she had called him that. He smiled. "A good lawyer never reveals his strategy before he's ready to."

They didn't walk far to begin with, only around the corner to a shop that was in the same building as the hotel. Jarrod stopped there, and he turned Beth toward him with her back to the shop, before she could read the sign. "Is this it?" Beth asked.

Jarrod nodded, and then he got down on one knee. People in the street were watching and smiling.

And Beth was so shocked her mouth fell open.

"I know this is fast," Jarrod said, "but I knew last night when you left the dining car that I could never, ever let you leave me again. I love you, Beth Randall. I've never loved anyone the way I love you, and I hope you feel the same way about me. My star led me to yours. Will you do me the honor of being my wife?"

People passing smiled, and Beth nodded so fast she could hardly believe it. Jarrod got up and she fell into his arms. When they kissed on the busy street, no one passing by seemed to mind. Jarrod pointed out the shop sign to his intended. It was a jewelry store.

"We're going to have a busy day," he said. "We're going to have to go by that boarding house and the school board offices and tell them you won't be coming. You're going to California."

Beth began to laugh. "I can't wait."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

It wasn't twenty minutes after his proposal that Jarrod slipped a ring with a beautiful, rich diamond onto Beth's finger. The clerk in the jewelry store grinned from ear to ear, and not because he had just sold one of the higher end diamonds, plus a gold wedding ring. He was just tickled to see two people so much in love. Jarrod gave him a wink as he and Beth left.

"And where to now?" Beth asked.

"Someplace I suppose I'd better make sure you want to go," Jarrod said. "The courthouse, for our marriage license and the justice of the peace."

Beth's mouth fell open again. "Jarrod, are you sure you don't want to wait until we get to your home in California? You have family, after all."

"I don't want to give you a chance to change your mind," Jarrod said. "You might do that once you meet my brothers."

They began to walk down the street. The courthouse wasn't very far away. "I can't imagine your brothers would make me change my mind."

"They might tell you what a difficult big brother I am, bossy and ornery – "

"And I don't believe that for a minute," Beth said.

"So you will marry me today?" Jarrod asked.

They stopped. Beth nodded and kissed him lightly on the lips. "I don't think I can wait to marry you, Mr. Barkley."

She didn't wait long. To the courthouse, to the justice of the peace in the same building, and within an hour and half, she was Mrs. Jarrod Barkley.

"I can't believe it," she said as they left the courthouse together. "I can't believe this is really happening. I'm a married lady!"

Jarrod chuckled. "I can promise you, you won't regret it. I intend to treat you like a queen, and I know my family will, too. After all, they've waited all these years for me to find the right girl and get married. They'll probably get down on their knees and worship the ground you walk on."

"What are we going to do now?" Beth asked.

"We're going to the Palace, and we're going to get rid of one room."

Now Beth shivered a bit. The honeymoon. She was nervous. She didn't know what to expect, of him or herself. She wondered if she had made a big mistake, marrying him so fast, and she caught her step for a moment.

Jarrod stopped her, making sure she hadn't stumbled, but then he realized what she might have been thinking. He kissed her, softly, as lovingly as he knew how. "You won't regret a thing," he whispered into her ear. "Trust me."

She did. She knew it just by looking at him. She nodded.

They checked her out of her room and had her bag taken to his – now theirs, as the desk clerk gushed over their new status and wished them good luck all over the place. Jarrod nearly grabbed her up in his arms and took her straight there, but there were still things to do. Instead, he ordered dinner to be brought there at seven o'clock, and they headed across town to the Board of Education.

The clerk there was startled to hear his brand new teacher was not going to be coming to work for them, but he smiled anyway when she told him why. "Well," he said, "it's hard to compete with a new husband and a life in California," he said. "I wish you the best of luck, Miss Rand – " He caught himself. "Mrs. Barkley."

From there, they went to the boarding house Beth had arranged to stay and gave the woman there the bad news. But Mrs. Noonan broke into a smile. "Well, that's not bad news – it's wonderful news! Congratulations, darling, and the best to both of you."

From there, Jarrod took Beth to a photography studio the clerk at the hotel had recommended, and they had their wedding photograph taken. The photographer promised to have it ready the next day. By this time, it was nearly four o'clock and the newlyweds were actually getting tired. They went back to the hotel and to their suite.

Jarrod took Beth inside to the bedroom and there they were, together for the first time alone in a room, with a bed, as husband and wife. Jarrod knew Beth had to be nervous – heck, he was nervous himself – but somehow, when he took her in his arms and kissed her, she liked the shiver it gave her. She smiled and kissed him again.

They made love softly, gently, then more intensely, over and over until they couldn't anymore and they actually fell asleep. Until there came a knock on the door.

Jarrod woke up, his lovely new wife in his arms, wondering what he'd heard. He heard the knock again and remembered – he'd ordered dinner for seven o'clock. Beth stirred as Jarrod climbed out of the bed and grabbed his robe he'd left over a chair. "Just a moment!" he called, grabbed his wallet from out of his pants, and held a hand up to his wife in the bed. "Stay right there!" he whispered.

Beth ducked under the covers and laughed.

Jarrod went out to the door and had the waiter bring the food in. Then he tipped him and got him out of there fast. Beth was giggling under the blankets in the bedroom. Jarrod took a moment to lift the cover off of their meal, to assure himself it was what he ordered. Then he put the cover back on, went back into the bedroom, dropped his robe on the floor, and fell back into bed with his wife.

Beth laughed when he kissed her, and shivered like crazy when he kissed her over and over.. "I don't think I need to eat," he said.

They made love again, eagerly, happily, until finally Beth said, "I think I do need to eat. I'm all out of energy."

Jarrod got up, put his robe back on and handed Beth her own robe from her bag. Then he led her to the living room, saying, "All right, my love. Welcome to our honeymoon feast! We have chateaubriand for two with baked potato and roasted vegetables. We have a lovely red wine – oh, look! It's from the Barkley vineyards!"

"Is that one of your businesses?" Beth asked.

"It is indeed and this is one of our best vintages," Jarrod said. "I chose it just for us." He removed the cork and poured the wine.

Beth kissed him again.

"I thought you were out of energy, Mrs. Barkley," he said.

"Somehow the thought of chateaubriand gave me an extra boost," Beth said.

Their dinner sat on a small table in the corner of the room, with two chairs there. Jarrod pulled one out for Beth and then sat down himself and served dinner for the both of them.

As she began to eat, Beth suddenly stopped and said, "I don't think I can believe this. Am I still dreaming?"

"How so?" Jarrod asked.

"I'm married to a handsome attorney, who can afford the best suite in a big Denver hotel and chateaubriand, and lovely wedding rings – and it's all happened in only four days!"

Jarrod leaned toward her and kissed her. "I've been wondering how hard God had to work to make sure we met," he said. "I came so close to staying in Washington one more day, and if I had been only three seconds later, I wouldn't have bumped into you."

"I'm glad it happened the way it did," Beth said. "I think I was always meant to be Mrs. Jarrod Barkley. I'd have hated to miss it."

"After we eat, you know, we'll both have more energy. What do you think we should do with it?"

Beth laughed softly. "I think you know exactly what to do with it, Mr. Barkley."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Their honeymoon night made them so exhausted they slept through until ten o'clock the next morning. Jarrod woke first, found his wife in his arms with her head against his chest, and he never felt so happy in his life. This was it, this was real, this was what he knew was coming his way when he first felt human again after that bullet in the back. He now had taken his first step into that beautiful future he dreamed about.

And it was Beth in his arms. Beautiful, sweet, delightful Beth. Beth who loved Shakespeare and Mozart. Beth who knew the names of stars and even knew the name of the one he claimed as his own. Beth who had made love with him over and over and made him feel like the best lover God had ever put on this earth. Beth who would share his home and have his children and grow old with him, all in a beautiful future.

"You're purring," she suddenly said.

He had to laugh. "Purring?"

"Like a cat," she whispered. "Like a very contented cat."

"That's the first time anyone, anywhere, ever said I purred like a cat."

Beth smiled. "No one was ever listening this closely before."

"Or maybe I just never was this content before. You make me very, very happy, Mrs. Barkley."

Beth looked at her rings. "Mrs. Jarrod Barkley. Oh, my goodness – "

"What?" Jarrod asked. She sounded alarmed.

"I don't know your middle name!"

Jarrod laughed. "Thomas."

"Mrs. Jarrod Thomas Barkley," Beth said, sighing.

"I don't know your middle name, either," Jarrod said.

"I don't have one," Beth said. "Elizabeth Randall was all I ever was."

"Well," Jarrod said and kissed her, "now you're Elizabeth Randall Barkley, for the rest of your life."

"We have a lot to learn about each other, don't we?" Beth asked.

"And a lifetime to learn it," Jarrod said. He kissed her head against his chest. "But I suppose we ought to get up and get something to eat."

"Not yet," she said, and ran her hand over his body, just the way he liked it.

Now he was the one doing the shivering. "You best be careful there, Madame, or you may find yourself in bed all day with no food."

"Well, I know we can't do that," she said, "unless you intend to grow a beard."

"I know, I need a shave. Real life always has a way of muscling in."

"But we have each other in our real life," Beth reminded him. "You're the one who told me this wasn't a fantasy."

"It's a real life fantasy," he said. "But yes, you're right, in real life fantasies men have to shave. We need to make another decision, too. If we catch the train tonight, it will still take us almost three days to get to Stockton. Do you want to leave tonight, or shall we stay in Denver longer?"

Beth sighed. "As long as we're together, I don't care where we are – but I suppose we should spring the surprise on your family before too long. I hope they like me."

"They'll love you," Jarrod said. "You are sweet, you are magical, and you love me. They will love you." He kissed her again. "But now, I best get down to the bell staff and have a private car arranged on the train for us. I do not intend to make love to my wife in a Pullman."

Beth laughed. "Can you imagine even trying to fit the both of us into a Pullman?"

Jarrod laughed. "Let's just say I suspect we'll be a lot more comfortable in our own car." He got up to dress and dash downstairs. "You go ahead and start to get ready. I'll go down and arrange for the car, and then I'll come back up and shave and be ready for the day."

"Promise you'll come back," Beth said.

Jarrod leaned over and kissed her. "I promise I will always come back, my darling. Now that I've found you, I don't plan to give anyone the chance to take you away."

Jarrod was back up just as Beth was fitting herself into her dress. She had not yet done up her hair, but she had applied her make-up. Without a word, Jarrod came to her, helped her do up her dress and then ran his hand through her hair. "Hm," he said. "I think I like you best with your hair down."

"Perhaps partly up?" she said, and pulled some of her hair toward the back, leaving most of it falling down on her shoulders. She handed Jarrod a barrette when he looked at her approvingly.

He faced her, reached around and put the barrette in place. Then he kissed her. "Beautiful."

"Your turn," she said. "You need to shave."

Jarrod rubbed the stubble on his face. "Ah, yes, my dirty little secret. I really ought to shave twice a day. In fact, when I'm working, I do. I just got a bit busy with something else yesterday." He leaned in and gave his wife a long, deep kiss.

She giggled when he moved away. "The beard already tickles."

Jarrod shaved and by then, they were hungry and ready for lunch. Jarrod took his new wife to his favorite restaurant in Denver, where the wait staff knew him and were all agog at the beautiful woman he was bringing in. As soon as he mentioned to one that Beth was his wife, the news went through the staff like wildfire. The next thing the happy couple knew, the owner was beside their table, wishing them all the luck in the world, and letting them know their lunch was his wedding present to them.

"Do you know people everywhere?" Beth asked after the owner left.

"I know people in many places," Jarrod said. "My profession takes me all over the place."

"I've married a celebrity," Beth said, teasing.

Jarrod chuckled. "Hardly."

After lunch, Jarrod took Beth to a spot where they could get a beautiful view up into the mountains in the west. The sky was blue and clear and Beth said, "I never imagined mountains could look like this. But they really don't look as high as I expected them to."

"That's because we're already nearly six thousand feet up," Jarrod said. "All the while we came across the plains, we were climbing in elevation."

"So gradual I didn't notice it," Beth said. "I suppose we go through these mountains when we leave Denver, don't we?"

"Yes," Jarrod said. "It will be dark, so we'll feel it rather than see it. By the time the sun comes up, though, we'll be deep into the mountains and traveling through one of the most beautiful canyons in the world."

"Will you point out everything to me – everything we can see, anyway?" Beth asked. "I don't know when we'll be back this way again."

"I will show you everything that captivates me whenever I come this way," Jarrod said. "That is, if I can take my eyes off my beautiful wife."

Beth sighed and smiled as she looked up at the mountains. "It's like going up to heaven on a train," she said.

"I'm already in heaven," Jarrod said.

Beth smiled and rested her head against his shoulder. "So am I."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

After a day of enjoying Denver and each other, Jarrod and Beth boarded their private car on the train that was due to head west just after eleven o'clock at night. They found their bed already turned down, and since they had already eaten dinner and were set for the night, they dove right in.

"I wonder what it's like to make love on a train?" Beth asked.

It wasn't long before they found out. The train pulled out fairly slowly, and continued slowly far up into the mountains. The rocking back and forth made for some interesting sensations. At one point, as Jarrod sighed and rolled over onto his side of the bed, happy and satisfied, Beth said, "I think I like this train."

Jarrod laughed out loud.

"I'll bet you wouldn't do that in a Pullman," Beth said.

Jarrod laughed even more and was back in his wife's arms again.

Despite themselves, they ultimately fell asleep. When dawn broke, they were deep into the mountains, so it was a bit later that the light woke them up. Jarrod opened his eyes first and saw the mountains outside the window, and a river cutting through them down to the right of the train. Holding his wife in his arms, he sat up and turned the two of them toward the view on the right. Drowsily, Beth said, "What is it?"

"Open your eyes," Jarrod said. "Look out the window."

Beth mumbled and did look out – and her eyes opened wide. "Oh, my goodness!" She quickly got up, grabbed her robe and hurried to the window. Jarrod sat on the edge of the bed, watching her, enthralled by the way she was practically pressing her nose to the window to see. She suddenly looked at the back door. There was a platform there but no car hooked on behind theirs. "May we go out the back and look? We could see everything from there!"

"Put your slippers on," Jarrod said, donning his slippers and his robe. In a moment, they both went out the back door.

And the Colorado Rocky Mountains spread themselves out before them like a wedding gift from God. Retreating behind them, they could see the mountains looming high into the air, the tight canyon with the river running through it beside them, the track that marked the way they had come, the deep blue sky.

"Oh – " Beth said. "I never dreamed anything could be this magnificent."

"That's the river that runs all the way through Colorado and south into Mexico where it runs into the ocean," Jarrod said. "If we were on a raft in the water there we would eventually go through what they've started to call the Grand Canyon."

"I've read about it," Beth said. "Will we see it?"

"No, this train line leaves the river when the river cuts south. I've never seen the Grand Canyon but I understand it's like nothing we can see anywhere else in the entire world."

"Take me there someday," Beth said.

Jarrod smiled. "All right. As soon as we can, we'll go. But forget the raft. I understand the river is a monster down there, waterfalls and rapids that can swallow you up. I don't want my beautiful wife swallowed up, except maybe by me." He started kissing and nibbling her neck.

Beth laughed. "What will we see after this canyon?"

"We go through some serious desert area and by the great salts west of here."

"Oh! The place where everything is white with salt as far as you can see!"

"You've read about that, too," Jarrod said, smiling.

"I've read everything I could read on so many things," Beth said. "I wish I could live 500 years so I could read everything."

"But people keep writing things," Jarrod said. "You couldn't keep up."

"Oh, I know," she said. "But it's lovely to think about doing it. After the desert, do we come to the mountains we can see from your ranch?"

"Not quite," Jarrod said, "but close. We see the eastern Sierra Nevada first, very high. They probably still have snow on top of them."

"It's early spring," Beth said.

"Not up where they are," Jarrod said.

They heard knocking at the other door to their car.

"Our late breakfast is here," Jarrod said.

They went back inside, and Jarrod let the porter in. He brought coffee and toasted bread and eggs and ham, and Jarrod and Beth sat down to it and ate up a storm. As they savored the last cup of coffee, Jarrod felt his beard again, and Beth laughed. "Time to shave again. You forgot to last night."

"I was busy again," Jarrod said with a twinkle in his eye.

After they finished eating, they cleaned up and dressed, and then they were back out on the platform again. "It's too bad we don't have the bed out here," Beth said.

Jarrod laughed. "If we did, everyone could see what we were doing."

"And they'd be so jealous," Beth said and kissed her husband for what must have been the millionth time since they met scarcely five days earlier.

Jarrod stole another one, saying, "Come on. Let's relax a bit inside."

They went back in together, and as he closed the door, Jarrod said, "How do you feel about reading to me from one of those books you brought?"

"Reading to you?" Beth said.

Jarrod came closer to her. "I'll tell you a secret. A bit over a year ago, I was hurt in an explosion and for several weeks, I lost my vision. I couldn't see anything but blackness. I wasn't sure I would ever see again. My little sister, Audra, she began to read to me, and I can't tell you how much that meant to me. It wasn't just that I could have the words of a book when I couldn't see that book. It was the sound of her voice, so comforting at a time when I was desperate for comforting. Ever since then, when I'm troubled, or even when I'm relaxed, when I want to feel content, I've asked her to read to me. Will you read to me now?"

Beth nearly teared up. "Words mean that much to you?"

"The written word and the spoken word," Jarrod said. "They feed my soul."

Beth gave him a kiss. She found this part of him so captivating, she couldn't help but find a book. They sat down together on the settee, and he closed his eyes while she began to read Les Miserables to him – in English. Every now and then he reached to touch her hand, her arm, her face, and she would return the touch.

_This is it, _he said to himself_._ _This is what I've always wanted, this closeness, this sweetness, this joy. This is what life is all about. Beth is what life is all about for me now._

XXXXXXX

It was late in the day when the land north of the train began to turn white. Jarrod knew when they were coming up on it. Beth had fallen into a nap in his arms, but he knew he had to wake her up to see this. He kissed her. "Beth."

"Hm?" she asked.

"Wake up," Jarrod said. "We're at the salt flats."

Beth sat up out of his arms, onto the edge of the settee beside him. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep."

"It was fine," Jarrod said. "I enjoyed holding you. But now you need to wake up to see the salt flats."

"Oh!" she said and got up. "Where?"

Jarrod pointed to the back door. "Let's go outside."

They went out to the platform together and Jarrod pointed to the north. In the distance, Beth could see the whiteness, and it began to creep closer and closer as they moved along. It wasn't very long before most of the landscape was white – a little colored by the sunset, but noticeably white.

"Oh, my goodness," Beth breathed. "And that's all salt?"

"All salt," Jarrod said.

"The lake – the old sea – is it further away from us?"

"Yes, to the north," Jarrod said.

"And it used to come all the way down here, long ago," Beth mused. "Can you imagine – it just evaporated and left all this salt behind. Can you imagine how long that must have taken?"

"More lifetimes than you and I will ever see," Jarrod said. "I suppose someday the lake will be gone entirely, and all there will be is the salt."

"Amazing," Beth said. She looked behind them and saw the mountains they had come through had practically disappeared. She turned and tried to see the mountains coming up, but the train blocked the view. "How far until we are in the mountains again?"

"Not all that far," Jarrod said, "but it will be dark. We'll feel them more than see them, like when we left Denver."

"Oh, that's too bad," Beth said. "I wanted to see them."

"It'll take a long time to climb up there and get through. Tomorrow we'll cross the Nevada desert, and then we'll climb into the mountains in California. Then we'll get to Sacramento and then change trains for a short trip to Stockton. We should be home late tomorrow evening."

Beth grew quiet. Jarrod sensed she was uneasy.

"Don't be nervous," he said. "My family will love you."

"I hope so," Beth said. She turned toward him. "When I left home, I was planning to be in Denver now, not traveling to my first meeting with my in-laws."

Jarrod chuckled and kissed her. "It'll be fine. They'll be so glad to see me married that they'll worship the ground you walk on."

Beth fell into his arms and held him tight. They snuggled out there for a moment, and then Beth said, "When do we eat?"

"There, you see!" Jarrod said with a laugh. "You have something in common with my brother Nick already!"


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Could he ever get enough of her? Jarrod didn't think so. They made love in the darkness of the mountains, the rocking of the train giving them those extra sensations they had come to adore, and Jarrod wondered how he was ever going to recreate them once they were off the train. "You may not be as eager to make love with me once we're in a bed that doesn't sway from side to side," he whispered as she sighed and he slipped down next to her.

"I doubt that," Beth said. "I don't think I could ever get enough of you."

Jarrod chuckled and pulled her close, feeling her head against his chest as he rolled onto his back. "I was just thinking the same thing about you."

"How many children do you want to have?" Beth asked.

"As many as God will allow," Jarrod said. "And I insist we name two of them after our stars."

Beth laughed. "Polaris and Dubhe?"

"Well, maybe middle names that no one need ever hear," Jarrod said.

Beth said, "Our first son must have your name – Jarrod Thomas."

"That's so conventional of you."

"A bit," Beth said, "but I can be conventional about some things. I'd rather not saddle our children with names like Polaris and Dubhe. I'd like them to have good, solid names. Names people wouldn't put question marks after when then pronounced them."

"All right, Jarrod Thomas for our first son. Elizabeth for our first daughter?"

"Yes, and your mother's name for a middle name. Victoria."

"I don't know. Sounds like too many queens of England, don't you think?"

"All right, my mother's name for her middle name – Pamela. Victoria can be our second daughter's first name, and my father's name for our second son."

"What was your father's name?"

"Stephen. And our third son – "

"No, now, let's not plan everything out," Jarrod said. "Let's leave some surprise."

"The surprise will be our second son's and daughter's middle names – Stephen Polaris and Victoria Dubhe!"

Beth burst into laughter and Jarrod followed right along.

XXXXXXX

They were crossing the Nevada desert when the sun came up. It wasn't as flat as Beth expected it to be. There were hills and mountains interspersed, but the sunrise still woke them up when it came in through the window. Jarrod still slept, snoring a bit. Beth listened and while she couldn't quite liken the sound to a cat purring this time, it did give her comfort and warmth. This was real. He was her husband. He was sleeping beside her.

Beth sat up, trying not to wake him. She put her robe on and slipped over to the window. She pulled a chair up there and watched the colors change across the desert and some mountains in the distance. She got lost in her dreams, about what it would be like once they reached Jarrod's home and family, what their life would be like once he got back to work and she was on her own (or would someone from his family be around most of the time?), what it would be like to carry his child and give birth and raise a little one who looked like both of them. Such sweet dreams of the future. Beth rested her hand on the window sill and then rested her chin on her hand, and she smiled.

Jarrod woke up and noticed she was gone, but he saw her right away at the window. He smiled, watching her. God, she was so beautiful in that early morning light, her face beaming as she watched the world climb out from under the covers. "Dreaming?" he asked quietly without sitting up.

She had been lost in thought, but his voice was so tender and quiet that she didn't jump. She looked his way, smiling, and she nodded. "And watching the sun come up. To think – " she said and looked back out the window, "I nearly stayed in Denver and missed this. Thank you, Jarrod."

"What are you thanking me for?" Jarrod asked.

"For this. For us. For everything. I've just been sitting here and marveling that all of a sudden I'm the luckiest woman in the world."

Jarrod laughed a little and then a yawn snuck up on him. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said as it eased off.

Beth came back to the bed, slipped her robe off and climbed back in beside him. Without a word, he snuggled into her and began to kiss her. Beth sank into the luxury of his kisses and his touch and would have said she was the luckiest woman in the world again, but words seemed superfluous right now.

XXXXXXX

They breakfasted in the dining car as the train began a long, slow climb up toward Reno and the mountains into California. They were comfortably quiet together this morning, Beth thinking about what it was going to be like to meet his family, Jarrod thinking about the same thing but also thinking about having to get back to work before too long. They didn't realize it at first, but they were each having their first worrisome thoughts about the reality after the fantasy, the practical life they were about to begin living together. Neither one of them was ready to let the other one know any unease was settling in.

But then, they didn't need to. They had already learned to read each other's eyes. Beth was the first to say, "You're worried about how we're going to settle in together, aren't you? Once we get to Stockton?"

Jarrod quickly shook his head. "No, I'm not worried. I am a little upset at the thought of having to go back to work and leaving you even for five minutes, much less five hours. I'd ask you to come with me, but you'd be so bored you'd probably leave me forever."

"No," Beth laughed. "I'll have plenty to do, once we begin actually living together. There's cleaning and laundry and cooking and sewing."

"Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but we have help that does all that."

"We won't have that forever. We'll be building our own home."

"And you may have all the help you want."

"I'm not sure I want any, at least not in the beginning. I think I want to make our home myself – plant the flowers, make the curtains, harvest the vegetables, sweep the floors – " By the time she said the last, she was beginning to laugh.

"Whatever you want, my darling," Jarrod said, "but as soon as you get tired of all that and would rather join the Women's League or help out at the orphanage with Audra, you let me know. And besides, we have to build our home first."

Beth nodded. She had been thinking about that, but she hadn't had any ideas gel yet.

Jarrod had. "I know just the spot for our home. I've actually thought about it for a long time."

Beth got caught up in his smile. "What's it going to be like? Where will it be?"

"Well, now, that you will have to wait for," Jarrod said. "I want to show it to you rather than describe it. It's a place I love more than I have words for, though I suspect you'll find the words when you see it."

Beth reached for his hand, and he took hers and kissed it. "I know it will be beautiful, but somehow I have the feeling that I don't have any concept yet of how beautiful. I think the beauty I'm going to see in California is something I don't have words for."

"Not yet perhaps," Jarrod said, "but you will."

XXXXXXX

When they returned to their car, Jarrod decided it was time for him to read to Beth, so he borrowed her book and picked up where she left off. But it wasn't long before he noticed she was nodding off against his shoulder. _Poor darling, I've kept you up too much taking advantage of you_, he thought and put the book aside. Then he began to dream, the way Beth had been dreaming, about the future.

He knew exactly where they would build their house. It was a place he'd loved since he was a little boy, a place of refuge and a place of poetry. That's where Beth belonged – in a place of poetry. He even had some idea of how their home would look, how Beth would look sweeping the floors. He chuckled a little at the vision she had given him. Beth sweeping floors. Beth doing laundry. Beth chasing Stephen Polaris and Victoria Dubhe around the house.

She thought she was the luckiest woman on earth. He thought he was the luckiest man. And he knew his family would come to adore her almost as fast as he had. They didn't know about the woman he fell in love with during the war, the woman he thought he'd be bringing home to marry but who turned out to be anything but what she seemed to be. No one had any idea how devastated he had been to find out the truth, to come to know that he had been wrong all along about her. No one knew how hard it had been for him to trust again, and to fall in love again, really in love.

But now it had happened. Jarrod put the book aside and rested his head against Beth's. This was real, and he wasn't wrong this time. Maybe what happened with Julia so long ago wasn't as bad as he had always thought it was. Maybe his shattered love with her, that kept him from falling in love again, led him to Beth, as sure as a straight line from Merak and Dubhe led to Polaris. Whatever it was, he had what he wanted, what he needed, right here in his arm right now.

And once they got home, they could begin to make that future they were both dreaming of a reality. Jarrod smiled and kissed Beth on the top of her head. He couldn't wait for the future to come.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The next hours sped by even faster than the train seemed to go. Just after the sun went down, they were catching their connecting train from Sacramento to Stockton, and Beth said to her husband as the train pulled out, "I guess I can't change my mind and turn around now."

Jarrod looked startled. "You don't really want to do that, do you?"

"No," she laughed. "I'm just nervous. I'd never change my mind. Never."

They kissed there, in a first class seat together now for the short jump to Stockton. It was too dark to see the countryside, which Beth was sorry for, but Jarrod said, "Don't worry. The first thing we're going to do tomorrow – well, maybe the second or third thing – "

Beth laughed.

" – is drive through the beautiful country where I grew up, and into Stockton in the daylight so you can see my office and change it all around."

"I would never touch your office," Beth said. "A man's office is his castle."

"I thought it was his home that was his castle."

"No, that's _our_ castle, or it will be once we build it. Jarrod, are you sure you're not sorry?"

She was so serious this time that Jarrod quickly kissed her. "I've never been less sorry about anything in my life. I love you, Mrs. Barkley. I will love you until the day I die. And you're right, it will be _our_ castle and we'll make it as wonderful a home as ever was had."

Beth laughed again and shivered.

Jarrod got the message. "You're nervous about meeting the family."

"A little," Beth admitted.

"It won't last," Jarrod said. "Once they see how much I love you, they'll love you, too. You're going to fit right in, especially when my little sister Audra gets home from her travels east. She has wanted a sister since she was knee high to a grasshopper, except that she changed it to a sister-in-law once she started noticing boys."

"I may be nervous, but I can't wait to meet them all. They'll be my family now. I never had brothers and sisters. It will be a completely new experience for me. Just – hang on tight to me, please? I don't want to look as nervous as I am."

Jarrod laughed.

XXXX

When they reached Stockton, it was still somewhat lively, being only a bit after eight o'clock. Jarrod left all their baggage with Chad, the clerk at the depot, after he had said to the very shy man, "Chad, I want you to meet my wife, Beth."

"Oh!" Chad was startled. "Oh, congratulations, Mr. Barkley! I – I don't know what to say!"

"You just said it, Chad," Jarrod said.

Jarrod escorted his wife to the livery, being careful to make sure she didn't catch her footing on the boardwalk in the dark. They hadn't gone far before the largest man in town came toward them and Beth seemed almost startled at his size.

But Sheriff Madden said, "Jarrod! Welcome home!" and stopped before them.

Jarrod shook his hand. "Thanks, Fred. I want you to meet someone very special. Beth, this is Fred Madden, our sheriff. Fred, this is Elizabeth Randall Barkley, my wife."

Sheriff Madden's eyes grew wide and his smile burst out of him. "Oh, my gosh! Somebody finally got some sense into you! How do you do, Mrs. Barkley. Welcome to Stockton."

Beth shook hands with the sheriff and said, "Please call me Beth."

"Beth," the sheriff said. "I'm Fred. Well, the single ladies in Stockton will cry, but the single men will breathe a sigh of relief. And the rest of us will just enjoy having you become one of us. Congratulations, Jarrod, and the best of everything to you both."

Beth began to feel more at ease, but as they rode in the buggy toward the Barkley ranch, she began to tense up again. Jarrod tried to smile his way along as she clung to him, but when they drove under the gate and the house was in front of them, all lit up and BIG, Beth gasped.

Jarrod pulled the buggy up and helped Beth down. "Wait right here a moment and let me see who's up."

"The whole house is lit up!" Beth said. "Everybody's up!"

"Maybe – just a second – "

Jarrod went in but in a moment was back out, reaching for her hand. Beth trembled but gathered herself together as Jarrod led her inside.

And there they were, an older woman and two men a bit younger than Jarrod. Jarrod introduced Beth and she tried her best to smile and be at ease, but she was really nervous, until Jarrod said, "Beth and I are married."

And everyone started gushing, and Victoria said, "Welcome to the Barkley ranch!" and took her by the arm and led her into the parlor. Nick and Heath went to fetch some champagne and Victoria sat Beth down and suddenly realized, "I'm a mother-in-law!"

They laughed and drank champagne. Beth kept looking toward her husband for moral support, and he gave it, blue eyes twinkling, while his brothers told stories on him like the time he brought a pig home as payment for a fee or the time he accidentally squirted Basque wine all over his face trying to drink it from the wineskin the way the Basque did. They laughed, Jarrod told stories on his brothers, Victoria kept saying, "Don't mind them – you know how men are."

It was a whirlwind evening and at the end of it, Jarrod and Beth retreated to his room, now their room. Beth gasped when she went in. "Well, it's very masculine, as I suppose it should be. But it's so big!"

Jarrod laughed a little. "Not as big as some of the other bedrooms in the house. I'm not here a lot, so I don't need much. Which is something we should talk about before too long. I also have an office and a home of my own in San Francisco."

"Which you already told me," Jarrod said.

"Yes, well, this room and the house in San Francisco all need a woman's touch – which isn't here yet, I'm afraid." He went over to the wardrobe and opened the door. Out came half of the suits he had hanging there, which he draped over a chair and began pulling out the hangers. "This will have to do temporarily," he said, turning back toward her. "We'll get another piece just for you, and when we get to San Francisco, we'll do the same for the house there."

Beth interrupted him, coming toward him and putting her arms around his neck, and her mouth on his. "It's late. Let's leave all the unpacking and the rearranging of furniture and all of that for another day."

Jarrod kissed her again. "So, how did you feel? With the family, I mean."

"I feel like I've come home," Beth said.

Jarrod laughed and lifted her into the air. It was just what he wanted to hear.

XXXXX

Heath was the only one who caught them sneaking out the next morning. Jarrod asked him to tell everyone they had gone to his office in Stockton. Heath agreed, and then immediately forgot, as he had to confess that evening when everyone gathered for drinks before dinner.

"Well, I hope you had a lovely day," Victoria said to her new daughter-in-law.

"Oh, I did," Beth said. "Jarrod gave me permission to rearrange his office – which I wisely declined. Then he introduced me to so many people around town I can't remember them all. Then he took me out to see the horses and the cattle and the fruit orchards and so many other places on the property my head is spinning. I had no idea the family I was marrying into was so wealthy."

"And you married him anyway," Nick said, shaking his head. "Big Brother must have that allure that I've been struggling to find all my years, to land a gem like you without having to mention the money in the family."

"Oh, Nick, you're a gem yourself," Beth said. "Perhaps just a little in the raw, but a gem."

Nick's eyes twinkled at his older brother. "I like this girl, Jarrod. Does she have a sister?"

"Sadly, no," Jarrod said. "You're still on your own, Brother Nick. I do have a conference with the judge in the morning," Jarrod said, "so Beth and I will have to part from each other for a while, for the first time since we met, actually."

"Oh, I'll keep her busy," Victoria said. "We're going to do some cooking. I need to get Beth familiar with your finicky tastes."

"I? Finicky?" Jarrod said with fake outrage. "I'll have you know I am not finicky. I just have a refined palate."

"Whatever it is, you do like food a certain way," Victoria said. "Beth, you and I will get to work right after lunch. You don't know how much I've been looking forward to this, and these three have just kept me waiting and waiting!"

"I hope you're ready to share some of Jarrod's secrets with me," Beth said, smiling toward her husband.

"Uh-oh," Heath said. "You're sunk now, Pappy."

Beth lit up. "Pappy?!"

"Oh, you haven't told her!" Nick said. "That's what we call him around here when he gets old and bossy on us."

"Pappy," Beth repeated, looking at him.

Jarrod actually looked a little embarrassed. "Somehow they have it in their heads that I'm sooooo much older than they are, when it fact, I'm just wiser and more mature."

"Beth," Heath said, "if you ever need some truth about our big brother here, you talk to me and Nick."

"Oh, I think I know the truth," Beth said. "And I still love him very much."

"You lucked out, Pappy," Nick said. "You found yourself a keeper."

"Eat your heart out, Nick," Jarrod said, smiling at his bride.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Jarrod went off to town alone the next morning, hating to do it, giving too many good-bye kisses to his new wife, knowing he could not spend every minute of every day for the rest of his life with her but wishing he could. "Don't worry about her," Victoria said to him privately. "She's fitting in here just fine, and I promise not to tell her about the time you tried to break a horse with your own leg broken."

"Or any other embarrassing stories I'm not here to respond to?" Jarrod asked.

Victoria just gave a smile and pushed him lightly toward Beth at the door. He and Beth kissed one more time before she gave him a light push out the door. When Beth turned, her mother-in-law was standing there in the foyer – and Beth suddenly realized she was alone with her husband's mother for the first time.

Victoria understood her nervousness. She just waved Beth into the living room. "Now comes the fun part," she said. "He has clothes that need mending. Mostly socks, but he has a tear in the seam of his favorite shirt. I hope you're up to this."

"Oh, I am," Beth said. "I was the only child and being a girl, I was well-trained in darning socks and mending seams."

Victoria sat down with her on the settee and pulled out her sewing basket from the side toward the fireplace. "We'll have to get you your own basket, because that husband of yours can be rough on his clothing."

"Really?" Beth said as Victoria handed her a pincushion and a small pair of scissors. "That surprises me."

"He tries hard, but sometimes he's just as rough and tumble as Nick and Heath," Victoria said. "And sometimes he just gets into trouble, like any other man."

That made Beth suddenly remember the man she and Jarrod had met in town the day before, Cass Hyatt. She wasn't sure why, but she was distinctly uncomfortable when she thought of that man, and uncomfortable because Jarrod just brushed him off saying he wasn't important. Beth wasn't so sure about that.

But before she could ask about him, Victoria went on. "So, tell me, what were your parents like?"

"Oh, they were both originally from England," Beth said as she threaded a needle and picked up a sock to darn. "Unusual for where we lived – mostly descendants of German immigrants in our part of Pennsylvania, near Harrisburg. I was born in Philadelphia, but my father wanted to be a farmer, so that's where we ended up. I grew up in a lovely old fieldstone house, where the hills just rolled and rolled."

"And you went to a teacher's college?"

"I did. After my fiance was killed – " She suddenly realized she was breezing into the subject too blithely. "My fiance was killed at Gettysburg."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Victoria said. "You must have been very young."

"Yes, I was, but a lot of us lost fiancés and husbands and brothers at Gettysburg. It was a very hard time."

"I'm sorry I led you into that."

"No, no, it's all right. I know Jarrod served, too. I know how worried you had to have been about him while he was gone."

"Yes," Victoria said, remembering. "He was gone for four years and then three more at school. He was my boy when he left, and he came back a man. I missed almost a third of his life then. When he came back, I hardly knew him."

"The war changed everyone," Beth said. "But Jarrod is a fine man. I do love him very much, Mrs. Barkley. I know I came here so suddenly it must be making your head spin."

"Not really. Jarrod was never one to talk to us about the girls he might be seeing. I always got the feeling he was waiting for that special one before he let us know he'd found her." Victoria smiled at Beth. "He's found her. I couldn't be happier."

Beth almost got misty-eyed.

They went on sewing and chatting until it was time for lunch. Victoria and Beth spent some time with Silas in the kitchen while he explained what he was fixing and how Jarrod liked it. "This afternoon, we'll work on dinner together, you and I, and give Silas a chance to tend the garden," Victoria said to Beth. "We'll fix something Jarrod particularly likes."

"Thank you, I'd like that," Beth said. "So far we seem to have the same tastes. I hope that keeps up."

"Oh, you'll probably discover that he likes sweetbreads and you don't or something like that, but don't let it worry you," Victoria said. "Despite all my teasing, Jarrod is not that demanding a man, not when it comes to food."

Victoria and Beth enjoyed lunch together before they dove in to preparing dinner. It was a dish to be very slowly cooked and required a lot of cutting up of vegetables, so Victoria and Beth had a lot more time to talk. As Victoria explained the dish they were preparing, how it was one of Jarrod's favorites, Beth suddenly realized how much she didn't know about her husband. "The little things, as well as the important ones," she said. And she said, "I wonder if we shouldn't have waited." And it worried her that she really felt that way.

"Oh, no, Beth," Victoria said. "You loved each other and you trusted each other. However, if there's anything that husband of yours won't tell you about himself, you ask me."

Cass Hyatt flew into Beth's mind, out of nowhere, dark and ugly. "Do you mean that?"

"Yes," Victoria said, curious.

"Who is Cass Hyatt?"

Victoria never got the chance to explain, because suddenly Jarrod's voice was coming from the foyer. Beth burst into a smile like the sun and ran out to him. Victoria followed along slowly, and as she arrived, Beth was started up the stairs to change her clothes. Jarrod was taking her out somewhere.

Victoria saw how her son beamed as he watched his wife disappear upstairs, and she stepped up to him. As he put his arm around her, she said, "Somehow I think you're very much in love with that girl."

"Now, whatever gave you that idea?" Jarrod asked.

And then Jarrod took his wife off somewhere.

And then he brought her back, dead in his arms.

XXXXXXX

Nick and Heath came in fast from the range. Victoria met them, in tears in the stable yard. "What happened?" Nick asked fast.

"She's dead, she's been killed, they went for a ride together and someone shot her and she's dead," Victoria couldn't keep from blustering.

Nick took his mother in his arms and held her, the tears running down his face.

Heath could hardly catch his own breath, but he asked, "Where's Jarrod?"

"In his room with her," Victoria said. "The doctor's here, but she's dead. She's dead. Oh, my God, she's dead – "

Nick and Heath looked at each other, sobs grabbing them both. They looked up toward Jarrod's room. They couldn't believe this was happening. They couldn't even imagine what was happening to their brother now. They had no idea what to do but stand there, staring, and crying, before they got themselves together to go up and try to help Jarrod.

Epilogue

It was over that fast. In the blink of an eye, less than a week of marriage, scarcely two days after they had come to know her, not even 48 hours since Jarrod had brought her joyously into the house and they had shared champagne with their new sister-in-law, she was gone. Shot dead. They were certain Cass Hyatt was behind it – Sheriff Madden had him locked up at least for now. Maybe he intended to shoot Jarrod, maybe he intended to shoot his wife, but whatever Hyatt's intention, it was Beth who bore the bullet. Now she was in the ground, beside the father-in-law she never met, and her husband stood staring, wearing an expression his family had never seen before. Distraught, disbelieving, but shut down at the same time. And something else.

They couldn't know that in his heart, all Jarrod could see was his wife's dead face, and her star falling from the sky and crashing into his as it did. They couldn't know that he was reliving every moment, every instant of a life together that should not have been over when it had only just begun. They couldn't know that all he could understand was that they were piling dirt on top of Beth, on top of him, on top of everything, and with every shovelful he kept hearing the word, "No," over and over and over.

What his family could see were his eyes, blind to everyone around him, lost in his grief, and in something else.

Heath and Nick stood aside from their brother and their mother beside him at the grave. They could see Jarrod's face. They knew what they were looking at was beyond pain, beyond mourning.

Heath said quietly, "He's gonna explode, Nick. It's already happening."

"I know," Nick said just as quietly. "I thought I knew every look in Big Brother's eyes but I never saw this one before. Heath, we gotta be ready for anything."

"We can't crowd him," Heath said. "We can't push. He won't be able to take that."

"I just can't believe this is happening," Nick said.

"Me neither," Heath said. "It just – ain't right."

They looked at each other, tears in their own eyes, for that sweet woman in the ground, for their older brother and the agony he was in, for what they both knew was coming and dreaded more than anything in their lives.

It was coming. How it would unfold and how it would end, they couldn't know. But it was coming, and they couldn't stop it.

And Jarrod just stared into the ground.

The End


End file.
